Chevy Volt “Temporarily” Halts Production

The dreaded Obama kiss of death strikes again. Just this week the head of Government Motors declared he’d be driving this piece of junk when he leaves the White House, hopefully 10 months from now. Sure enough, as soon as he utters the words, GM announces they’re halting production on the firetraps, for now.

General Motors has told 1,300 employees at its Detroit Hamtramck that they will be temporarily laid off for five weeks as the company halts production of the Chevrolet Volt and its European counterpart, the Opel Ampera.

“Even with sales up in February over January, we are still seeking to align our production with demand,” said GM spokesman Chris Lee.

Lee said employees were told Thursday that production would put on hold from March 19 to April 23.

General Motors sold 1023 Chevrolet Volts in February of 2012, but production figures totaled 2,347 units. Uh oh.

As we all know, GM originally targeted 45,000 units sold in the United States this year. GM only sold 603 in January and just restarted product a few days ago – the discrepancy between production and sales has long been documented at TTAC, and even my second-grader math skills can figure out that sales of the Volt are a long way off from their initial targets.

Obama has way too much invested in this to admit it’s a failure, even though everyone can see it. Really bright guy.

In Detroit-speak this is called “inventory adjustment.” Note well please that the manufacturing year is NOT TWELVE MONTHS! Ordinarily you are down for holidays and model changeover, so that the automotive manufacturing year can be as little as NINE MONTHs. If you are planning to ramp up production you MUST pre-order components and sheet metal months in advance. For an early-on car production cycle this one’s not doing well at all. If they can’t sell 20,000 this year they will want to forget about the car. I do not doubt that the car is being sold at a loss to rapidly depreciate the investment, but if that loss doesn’t decrease at some point relatively soon they will have to ditch this one. You remember the Pontiac Aztek don’t you? Do you remember Pontiac?

POTUS is an idealogue not an economist, and he doesn’t want to hear opinions with which he doesn’t agree or those he doesn’t understand.

the ramp up of oil prices isn’t done yet. This piece of refuse car may yet be a winner but not on merit. If the administration continues to strangle the oil industry on all fronts the GM exploding car will begin to look good. I hate being screwed around like this.

If the administration continues to strangle the oil industry on all fronts the GM exploding car will begin to look good

It has the same range as an electric car from 1917. It is dependent upon heavy metals (battery components) which are coming from foreign sources. AND it needs to be plugged into the grid. The one that the dear leader and the EPA are shrinking, not expanding ( eight coal fired power plants are being forced to close). They can’t make or sell the thing without massive subsidies, from development phase to individual sales. it’s a failure. Robert Fulton made history when he sailed the Clermont UP the Hudson river, against the tide, and without sails. The chevy volt has done nothing which hasn’t been done before, and what it does it does at great expense, and includes dependence upon foreign resources and adds to it dependence on the grid.

This all is not Obama’s ideas, he’s not that smart. He’s gives good “speak” and is propped up their to do what they tell him to do. I’m convinced this was pre-programmed before the election to enact the “Progressive” agenda. Try and find out what his grades were at Harvard, or what articles he wrote for the “Law Review”. Not there.

I wonder if the insiders (in GM) are scratching their heads: (1) was it wise to hitch wagon to government? (2) maybe it’s not time for a premium-priced moped that sucks grandma’s electric-meter off of her house? (3) why the hell doesn’t anything seem to work out anymore? (4) F’n consumers!

I dont and never have worked for a union shop so I give a rats _ss whether GM makes it or takes a dive. The Pols just have the bernank print more money .We never had to pay for these bailouts with actual wealth so whats a little inflation if it save those losers at GM.Yes,I said LOSERS. Every damn one of them from top to bottom. Too stupid to make it in the real world , just like every one of the ‘Green” startups the idiots in the GUV support with more of that ‘Funny” money.

Obama figures that by the time he’s >reelected< out on his ear that GM will be giving the Volt away just to get the things off inventory. Then Obama will have a new car the same way he got everything else, at taxpayer expense.

Before the GM bailout, the talk was that the Volt would be priced at $30,000. At that price, I was very interested. I probably could have caught one on sale or gotten some kind of rebate somewhere to buy it in the mid 20,000’s.

But at $40,000 with subsidies getting it down around $33,000, the price of the car ate up the savings from not having to buy gas. I’d delayed purchasing a car for a few years to take a shot at getting a Volt but finally gave up and had to buy a different car. Now I’m probably not in the market for a new car for another ten years.

I hardly ever drive more than 40 miles a day, maybe once a year if that often. All I need is basic transportation that doesn’t make me worry or pay more out of pocket whenever gas prices skyrocket. We’re already looking at $5 per gallon gas this summer but it could easily be $10 per gallon if things flare up with Iran.

Electricity is cheap compared to gas and I can make electricity with solar panels and a rooftop windmill. I can’t manufacture my own gasoline. A Volt was supposed to be a perfect match to my needs and concerns.

Why have the airwaves been inundated with Volt commercials the last few weeks?

and more important:

If GM as a whole is doing so well with record sales and profits, and the overall economy is now booming, why are those workers being laid off. Shouldn’t they be now building corvettes , camaros etc , which are leaving the lots like hotcakes.

Cold weather, hilly terrain, and using the A/C for hot, muggy days all cut the battery range significantly.

A $10,000 government rebate will still require you to pay sales tax on that amount…. $887.50 in NYC. So the $10K rebate only gives you $9,112.50

Replacing the battery is VERY expensive … figure $15,000.

The battery fire bru-ha-ha is undoubtedly overblown — but do keep a package of marshmallows in the glove box.

General Electric makes the home/external charging units. GE will ONLY provide a Chevy Volt to employees who rate a company car. Sole exception is field maintenance types who haul around tools and parts.